Dawn French describes her book, Because of You as a love letter to her daughter, step-daughter and mother. She claims that the book dared her to write it.

In Because of You, Hope gives birth to a still born baby and goes on to steal the child of another woman, Anna, who had given birth the same hospital that night.  Hope raises the child Minnie as her own. When Minnie becomes pregnant at 17 it is discovered that she has a hereditary heart defect, inherited from her biological father, Julius. Hope tells her Minnnie the truth of her birth, before handing herself in to the police. It is then that events speed on to a dramatic conclusion.

The story, Because of You is split into short, sharp insightful chapters, where the reader either sees the events specifically from the character’s own viewpoint, or from the stance of the narrator, talking about the character. In this respect, Julius comes off worst. The chapters sign post clearly who and what aspect of the story is about to be explored. The story is written in  a no-nonsense concise manner and includes social and political commentary throughout.

The emotions explored in Because of You are vast and  intense. The events invite the reader to be drawn in and not only understand the story, but feel what the characters are feeling. This is quite a feat when the reader’s are asked to  frequently shift who their sympathy and empathy is aimed at.  Because of You feels like it ought not to be a book but to be rushed, but the reality is it is a book that is almost impossible not to race through. I think this is maybe because Dawn French uses dialogue quite extensively as a writing device. Usually linear-ish, though not always, the chapters lead purposefully toward the dramatic conclusion  of the story. I didn’t see the ending coming, but I feel I probably should have! 

The two couples the story is about are the real parents of Minnie, (who they named Florence) couldn’t be more different. Julius, is a first rate egotistical idiot politician; his wife, Anna is grieving and bereft, for almost the whole story and hates her husband. As she comes to terms with how much Julius disgusts her, the reader see her grow in strength.

Hope became pregnant to quiet Isaac, a student from Liberia. Hope has escaped her own fairly dysfunctional background in Bristol and loves her indpendent life, where she is a cleaner in a London hospital. Hope becomes involved with quiet Isaac. A somewhat allusive, figure, he is warm, kind and gentle, but returns to Liberia being unalbe to actively participate day to day in the deception of the abduction he was part of.. Hope devotes her life, soul and everything she has and is in raising Minnie.

Family is obviously the key theme explored in the story, but class, wealth, politics, honesty, duplicity, morality are all simmering at or just below the surface. For a text that is easy and quick to read and absorb, it is hugely powerful. Dawn French is able to show the complexity of any given topic. She is, I think, challenging all of us when we oversimplify and put things inot straightforward ‘right and wrong’ boxes.

Dawn French’s Because of You was longlisted for the 2021 Womens’ Prize for Fiction. I was thrilled for her. As a celebrity author she has more than earned her Sergeant stripes.